Misguided Ky. priorities focus on private businesses over public service

Kentucky does not have a money problem. We have a perspective, priority and political problem.

Government’s prime duty is to the people, not private enterprise. At the federal level, the United States Constitution defines this purpose as: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Freed from the necessity of national defense, state governments have a more localized duty to protect the people’s welfare, starting with its most vulnerable citizens. This is as logical as it is moral, for we strengthen the whole by shoring up our weakest links.

Yet Frankfort pours out our precious public resources to well-propertied private parties at the expense of vital public need. As I wrote last year, we continue to squander over a billion dollars each year in these wasteful and counterproductive tax giveaways.

The problem is so rampant that the Herald-Leader is investing its resources to expose it.

Outstanding, fact-based articles by reporters John Cheves ($60 million film giveaways), Linda Blackford (Ritzy Summit getting tax breaks meant for blighted areas), Bill Estep (Luxury houseboats avoid taxes, fishermen pay 30 times more), and Daniel Desrochers (Adding sales tax to services could bring in up to $2.5 billion yearly) prove that there are fair, effective ways to raise revenues right now, without increasing personal income taxes a single cent.

Two major studies (by the Anderson Economic Group and the University of Kentucky) conclude that there is scant evidence the billions Kentucky has wasted on these tax “incentives” have done any good.

In fact, they have made things worse by robbing our treasury of much-needed revenue. Frankfort then cuts public services, services that help make us healthier, smarter and safer. This, in turn, makes Kentucky a less attractive place to do business and more dependent on the short-term losing strategy of even more tax giveaways.

Make no mistake, public services that put the people’s welfare first are the key to long-term success. They are the real magnet to companies looking to locate in Kentucky for the long term, not tax giveaways.

And public service is government’s true mission, not enhancement of private profit. Consider this: America became the greatest nation with its world-leading values and the growth of industry. The ingenuity of entrepreneurs, combined with the contribution of an educated, motivated workforce, propelled business success. American enterprise soared, jobs abounded.

And it all occurred without a nickel of tax giveaways.

In fact, this showering of corporate welfare on private enterprise is as un-American as it is counterproductive, and we must end it now.

Look, business is good at marketing, at selling things you often don’t need and are often not all that good for you. They are all about their profit, not our welfare. So, they sell the snake oil, and yell “jobs!” to make their pitch for our money.

But who’s promoting the public side of the ledger — the side backed by the Constitution and 200 years of proven success?

I know it’s not easy. Our legislators are good people. They have a thankless job and they work hard. But I encourage them to look beyond sweet-sounding surface solutions to dig into the facts. And mostly, to keep their focus on the public welfare.

The money’s there. We need only the will to keep it, and then use it wisely.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Misguided Ky. priorities focus on private businesses over public service."